When it comes to finding interesting news, the internet is both a blessing and a curse. Things like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have played parts in some recent political upheavals as ordinary citizens used those platforms to get information out, organize demonstrations, and communicate what was really happening in the face of media black outs. On the other hand, the ability to publish a legitimate looking news piece that has absolutely no firm backing has given rise to waves upon waves of shoddily researched stories with alarmist headlines that hang on the flimsiest of references.

One example of this was the oft-reported “factoid” that Interscope spent $25 million promoting Lady Gaga’s ARTPop album, and subsequently lost that money when the album didn’t perform up to expectations. You probably read about it, you may even have repeated it or gloated about it. But it wasn’t true. Bill Werde, the former editor of Billboard, lays out the facts in an excellent editorial, showing that the initial reports of the $25 million number came from two writers who seem to have been created out of whole cloth posting stories on a “user-submitted” news site. Bigger names got ahold of it and ran with it, and it somehow became the truth despite a complete lack of evidence.

Lesson of the day? Click a link or do a quick googling before hitting the “share” button and keep Snopes bookmarked.

Are you following Pajiba on Facebook or Twitter? Every time you do, Bill Murray crashes a wedding.

Comments Are Welcome, Bigots and Trolls Are Not

googergieger

Yeah but to be fair, she is horrible.

Kate

This seemed to be one of those things where people dislike a person, so they'll latch onto anything that denigrates them, even if it's quite obviously untrue. People were tiring of Gaga when this story came out, they wanted her to fail, so they accepted the story even though it made little sense. There was something similar with one of Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbooks. Someone claimed it would cost hundreds of dollars to produce one of her recipes, and people immediately believed it and it spread like wildfire. One look at the recipe in question and you'd see it couldn't cost more than $25 to buy all the ingredients, but people really wanted to believe Gwyneth was so insanely out of touch she advised spending hundreds on a very simple breakfast, so they just ignored that and carried on. It's quite amazing how quickly logic goes out the window when people want to hate someone.

Sean

I would doubt Interscope has $25 million to spend on promotion these days. The record industry is basically over at this point.

There are some folks who do this kind of stuff to affect stock prices as well. I remember a little while ago (couldn't find it right now), some ex-Microsoft guy published some bullshit just to see how far it would get pushed through social media, etc. It got far enough to make waves in the gaming/tech community.

e jerry powell

LIESSSSSSS![/Delphine LaLaurie]

Oh, and Michelle is totally divorcing Barack. IT'S TRUE! I READ IT ON THE ENQUIRER COVER!

This should be required reading for ANYONE WHO USES THE INTERNET. Even "dependable" sites like Yahoo.com repeat articles that have little basis in fact, and they certainly don't mind giving them those alarmist headlines. It's click-bait of the worst kind, I find.